Batsugun

A cool as hell and addictive old school shmup with a 90's anime aesthetic, catchy music and hard but fair difficulty.
Includes the original version of the game and a "Special" version which is a bit easier because your hitbox is tiny and bosses have a lot less health. The special version also loops 4 times and it gets harder each time. Loops 3 and 4 are madness.
Both versions are good but if you just want to blow up hundreds of ships to cool chiptunes then special is the way to go.
It feels really nice to play, this is top tier old school arcade goodness.

Batsugun is an arcade (runs on Toaplan Version 2 PCBs) shoot em up title from 1993 released by Toaplan (which was also their last game, before Toaplan's death resulted in it splitting into multiple other studios, most known examples being Raizing/CAVE/Takumi), and was known among the public for being one of first shmups of "bullet hell" subgenre: Your hitbox is more generous, your ship fires insane amount of bullets, enough to cover entire screen on some ships, bullets are, while still fairly fast compared to modern bullet hell, much more denser, bombs work as instant screen clear and power loss after death has been heavily reduced.
And, in 1994, a Special Version of Batsugun was released: While i'm not sure, what's the story behind it, but looking a bit into what has been going on with this version, it was an sort of showcase version that eventually found it's way into secondary market, which is why people managed to dump it's romset for usage in MAME/FB Neo/FB Alpha. While Special Version is much easier to clear than original arcade release (for 1 loop only) due to it's differences (smaller hitbox, one hit shield upon leveling up, and new type of "ground item" that allowed me to get 2-3 bombs on stage 2-2), it added 4 loops to go through, and even doing a "simple" task as going through second loop may require learning how to handle revenge/suicide bullets to avoid getting walled. I ususally make it into stage 4 of second loop before losing all my resources due to bad positioning.
In 1996, Batsugun gets a home console release for Sega Saturn, in which Gazelle (same guys who made Air Gallet) were involved. Nothing interesting to say there outside of fact that it includes Special Version (yet CAVE couldn't do the same for PS2 DOJ) with arranged soundtrack, as i didn't really played on this port yet.
After a while, CITY CONNECTION re-releases the saturn port through their "SATURN TRIBUTE" series, containing remixed "SATURN TRIBUTE BOOSTED" soundtrack... And containing lots of input lag. Just don't play it...
Now, going into 2024, we get this PC release of Batsugun from Bitwave Games, which i'll focus on discussing in this review. While Toaplan games come in collections on consoles, there you can buy them one by one, and for fairy cheap price too!
First of all, let's get into what versions of batsugun this port offers: Just like the previous ports, you get both the Original and Special Version releases in a single package. HOWEVER THIS DOES NOT ENDS HERE! In game options, you can change region of your game, which should help if specific version is used for scoreruns.
For this port, i heard that Bitwave used their own engine that attempts replicating original Toaplan Version 1/2 boards as perfectly as possible: As such, the input lag is minimal. And, in game where during later stages you'll need to micrododge every once in a while, low latency is important. Really kind of Bitwave to actually work on making their own engine for arcade port instead of just lazily shoving romset into laggy FB Alpha emulator with no ways of extracting the said romset for usage in better emulators!
In video options, you get decent amount of features, nothing interesting, a bunch of screen/scaling settings, ability to TATE your monitor, however what i'd like to put a focus on is scanlines: as some ports forget to implement this very important shader that gets experience a bit closer to what it supposed to look like on your average modern flat screen TV.
You also can have "side gadgets" too! While they are not as good as M2 ones (or hell, even PS2/Gamecube Radirgy level), they do their job, and there are few different options: one of which includes a guide meant to provide beginners with idea on how to play this game.
Obviously, you get the save states: these are included in most shmup ports, and are something that shmuppers use very often: not to cheese through entire game, but to repeat problematic sections until they get consistent at handling it. However, if you're lazy to make states like me, Bitwave got you too! They implemented a very flexible practice mode, where you can select loop/stage, as well as ship power level with resources for seeing how you can handle stages with, let's say, average amount of resources you get when reaching them (kinda like what i did when practicing futari original before getting a very good run for first 1cc). This practice mode alone would be enough to get me playing on this port instead of using FB Neo with RunAhead...
HOWEVER, THERE'S MORE! Bitwave implemented all kinds of time manipulation features (such as rewind, which may come in handy for casuals, or slowdown, which allows to analyze some of patterns properly: not sure what about ever so-important fast-forward though, as for moment of writing this port i still haven't fully explored this port) alongside assists: There, you can customize your autofire rate (up to 30hz), change your ship hitbox size, and do all various things that make game easier to approach for novices. BUT, the most important feature there is ability to display hitboxes: While it feels a bit broken for me, it allows to properly see hitboxes and analyze things based on hitboxes instead of sprites and shmupper senses gained over time.
Last thing i'd like to mention about this port is forced Steam Input implementation: This means, that this port will work with pretty much any controller/arcade stick, as long as you managed to set it up in Steam Input. As for keyboard controls, they can easily be changed in-game, so you can still play it on keyboard if you wanted.
If i had to describe this port in one sentence, it would be "too good to be cheap". Bitwave put a huge amount of love and effort into getting these games ported over, and while there are a few issues i can nitpick, overall package ends up being the best and cheapest non-emulated way to play Batsugun out of box. Now, THIS is how you should make ports.

My god how fun this game is. I got my first 1CC in the special version. A fantastic experience that will get you hooked on shmups for life!

The birth of bullet hell! Toaplan's final and possibly best title. Great pixel graphics, awesome and memorable soundtrack, super fun gameplay and well paced stages make this a must have for anyone who loves shoot 'em ups. Also comes with "Special Version", a great entry point for anyone trying to achieve their first 1All clear. I can't recommend it enough!

This is a surprisingly good port. It has low input lag and save states. I wish other shmups would get ports like this.

I’ve sunk a good few hours into this deceptively short game chasing a 1CC, getting close! Batsugun is a masterpiece. Beautiful, fast, and expertly designed, with almost nothing to criticise.
This includes the “Special Version,” but the menu does a poor job of explaining how to access it. It’s also meant to be easier, but ends up feeling like a downgrade, there’s no proper first-playthrough ending, unlike standard Batsugun, which actually concludes.
One of the best shooters out there, if you haven’t played it yet, you absolutely should.

I really love this classic badass Toaplan shmup. Extremely well done and satisfactory to play. This Bitwave port satisfies the minimum requirements of low input lag, providing both the Original and Special versions as well as some additional options such as recording the gameplay. But Toaplan shmups deserve much better such as enhanced graphics and soundtrack and overall better gadgets and more elaborate UI, The lack of effort from the Bitwave team would justify a negative rating.